Graham Reid | | 1 min read
Without saying much about their popular, unadventurous, studio-crafted and upbeat danceable pop, the Foley duo of Ash Wallace and Gabriel Everett illuminate an aspect of the current music scene which mostly passes without comment: the drip-feed of songs which are combined to make an EP and then an album.
Of the 10 songs on this debut album, five of them were released on “the first chapter of this album” earlier this year entitled Crowd Pleaser Pt 1.
Another three subsequently appeared when singles from Pt 1 were released: Killing Me Babe here has actually appeared six time already from late last year, the same count for Smooth It Over (which also got a remix version).
So the Crowd Pleaser album comes very well market-tested and only adds two previously unheard songs, the guitar-based What Got Into You (about falling for gossip) and the gently glistening Heal My Heart ballad.
Given just how familiar 80% of these songs will be for Foley fans – and the duo have a good following – isn't it just gilding the fading lily a bit for their PR to refer to “their highly anticipated debut album”?
This is a not uncommon approach in the pop market -- two-thirds of Hayley Williams' Petals for Armor and half of the Lontalius album Someone Will Be There For You were already out there -- as artists aim for breakout bangers and Spotify uptake.
However from a more skeptical perspective, Crowd Pleaser isn't a “debut” but rather a compilation with a couple of new tracks added.
The songs are pretty decent, if you like professional manufactured pop, but then again we already knew that. Didn't we?
And by the way, an official video is now apparently called the “official visualiser”.
It's a great time to be alive.
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You can hear the Crown Pleaser album at Spotify here.
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